A portrayal of the south in F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories: From nostalgic idealism to critical skepticism

Each decade has a major author who captures the culture and spirit of the era and sets the literary context from which other prominent works emerge. For the 1920's it was Francis Scott Fitzgerald, the "social historian" of the "Jazz Age," a term Fitzgerald himself coined to describe the glitz and glamour of the Roaring 20s. Fitzgerald epitomized his generation with personal experiences; his characters became symbols of his generation and facet of American culture. Nevertheless, to remember Fitzgerald only as a spokesman of the Jazz Age would be to do injustice to many of his insightful other stories that reflect his keen interest in the Old South and its dying traditions. Despite being a Northern and a new generation writer, for Fitzgerald the south had a special meaning and place in his memory. His fascination with the South is due to nostalgia; gracious assets that are gone with the wind as he regarded the South as romantic and aristocratic. And thus, the loss of the romantic South in the face of new world ideals furthered the decay of American societal values and since he believed there was no hope for its betterment, the South could no longer become the redeeming force Fitzgerald once envisioned. So, his treatment of the Southern region in his short stories also changed and the once romantic and optimistic writer of the turn of the century turned into the very bitter and cynical social historian of the Jazz Age. From the very first to the last, his short stories that are based on his real life experiences, feelings, and the prominent people in his life manifest his assessments and sentiments, and in this dissertation, I aim to scrutinize his reflection of the South and what South represents, from its landscape to its belles and cavaliers, from its eloquent beauty to its gradual deterioration and devastation. Keywords: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Sayre, Autobiografiction, South, North,Short Story, Jazz Age